


He Won't Let Go

by journaliry



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Awkward Crush, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, Childhood Sweethearts, High School, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-16
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-13 19:02:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 17,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20587496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/journaliry/pseuds/journaliry
Summary: First time you met Dave you were so young you don't even remember how little you were. You'd always saw him on-and-off whenever his bro wanted to meet up with your dad and your friend Rose's mom's place. The two of you haven't seen each other in years, it wasn't till high school you met him again...





	1. Never Like Always

You were sitting down in your car seat right next to your twin sister, Jade. Jade already feel asleep from the car ride so you were left alone in the backseat, listing to your dad singing along with the radio. 

Just like every time your dad wanted to get out of the house, you were visiting Ms. Lalonde's _super_ big house. Her daughter, Rose was really strange but she was nice. Your sister liked playing with her on the couch a game Rose called 'therapy,' you thought it was boring. It was nothing but talking about feelings and icky stuff like that. You were sitting on the floor rolling around your favorite toy, a bright red truck. Jade was laying on the couch and Rose was nodding along with her as Jade spoke. Just listening to them talk made you bored so you left the room in search for something fun to do.

Your dad was outside on the back porch with the other adults. They were all smoking and Rose's mom was drinking purple juice in a funny glass. She always wore tons of lipstick and she'd get kiss marks all over your face whenever you got to close to her. The only other adult was Dave's big bro. He seemed really scary and intimidating to you. Every time you would see Mr. Strider, he had on a different pair of shades in all these different styles and shapes. Mr. Strider also made a lot of jokes with Rose's mommy that you didn't get, your dad once told you they talk about adult things that you shouldn't listen too and just worry about being a kid, you think you'll do that.

You walked up to Mr. Strider, you were focused on Dave. You stood up on your tiptoes and patted his back to ask Dave if he wanted to play with you outside. Dave shook his head no and dug his face into his big bro's shirt. His brother picked him up and dropped him down to the ground, "little man, go play." He patted Dave on the back and pushed him towards you. He started drinking out of his brown bottle again and ignored you two as he kept talking to Rose's mom about a 'hook up' he had. You didn't know what he was talking about so you just looked back at Dave.

Dave had bright red eyes and red pupils, he had bright white hair and white eyelashes. Dave usually wore shades but his bro must have made him take them off.

You told him, "Wow! You're eyes are super cool!" 

Dave looked away from you and down at the floor.

Dave wanted to get his older bro's attention back, so he patted him on his hand. His bro lifted up his hand and shooed Dave off. Mr. Strider didn't look at his bro. That guy didn't seem that nice to you but maybe he just wanted Dave to go play. You patted on Dave's arm to get his attention, you told him that you'd let him play with your favorite truck if he played tag with you in the backyard. He nodded at you and looked down at the ground.

You were so happy that you grabbed onto his hand and dragged him along with you to play outside. You tripped a lot when you ran around but you always got right back up and laughed. You chased after Dave and you accidentally tagged him too hard. He fell over and started to sniffle. You made him scrape his elbow. Your dad always kissed your owwies when you started to bleed so you took Dave's arm and kissed it better. Dave dried his eyes and looked back at you. Dave still looked sad so you took both of your hands and put them up to your face. You blew a big fart sound into your palms. Dave started to laugh. You gave him a big grin, you felt really happy that you stopped him from getting sad.

"Wanna juice box!? My dad gots some!" You held him by the hand and dragged him back over to the adults. You tugged at your dad's sleeve and asked him, "Dad. Can we have juice box, please?"

"Sure, son." He handed you two juice boxes.

"Thanks, dad!" You took them and put them both on the super tall table. You took off the wrappers for the straws and stuck them both in the holes yourself. You grabbed them both and handed one over to Dave.

"Here." You asked him as he took it from your hand, "you like apple?"

Dave's face started to get really red. He looked down at the yellow box in his hands. He nodded as he stared at the box. You laughed because his face looked funny. His lips started to turn into a wavy line.

You held onto your sunshine-yellow juice box with one hand and grabbed onto Dave's hand with the other. you wanted to take him inside so you can play out of the heat because he looked really sweaty. You pulled him along with you, and Dave's hands were getting really clammy.

You took him into the room where the two girls you left were talking on Rose's two big sofas. You let go of Dave's hand and grabbed your red truck off of the living room table, it was resting right next to Jade's toy pistol.

"It my fav'rite toy." You hand it to him. "Here. You play wit' it."

You sat down on the ground and he followed you. He held up the truck and looked at it as he sipped in his juice box. He looked like he didn't know how to play good.

"Put it on the ground!" You grin and point down at the floor.

He started rolling it on the ground. You took a big sip from your juice box.

Dave wasn't making any sounds so you made some for him. "nnneeooom." He laughed as you made sounds for him. He kept giggling as you made beeping sounds just to make him laugh. Dave's giggles made you giggle too. Whenever Dave laughed it makes you laugh.

Dave gave you your truck back. "You play with it. You' better at it."

He must want you to make sounds and roll it around for him. You start rolling it on the carpet as he watches you make more funny noises for him, "MMMmmmmm!"

Dave sipped on his juice box and made a big slurpy sound. He looked sad that he didn't have any more apple juice. You picked up yours and gave it to him. "Here. I only wan' some."

Dave started turning super red again. He seemed like he wasn't sure if he should take it or not so you put it in his hands for him. You went back to rolling around the truck.

Dave kept drinking from your old juice box as he rested against your side. Eventually he decided to hug you. Dave held onto you for a while. A long while actually. Actually... once he grabbed on he didn't let go. You kept playing with your truck anyway and made funny noises while Dave hugged you.

When all the adults came inside they walk into the living room where the four of you were playing. You looked up at all of them and noticed that Ms. Lalonde seemed really happy about something. You smiled up at her. Dave's big bro was smiling too but his arms were crossed. Mr. Strider looked really muscular and looked really tough. He was still scary to you but when he smiled like that he didn't seem so mean.

"Come on, little man." Mr. Strider called for his bro to come back to him.

"no." Dave buried his face into your arm. You patted his back. He was really weird, but you thought it was funny so you laughed.

"Awwww..." Ms. Lalonde clapped her hands together and put them in front of her knees. She started leaning down to get a better look at you two. She must have been happy that Dave was playing with you.

**"Dave. Come here."** Dave's older brother sounded a bit scary. Dave might get in trouble if he doesn't let go. You pat his arm, you don't want him to get yelled at.

**"No!"** Dave hugs you tighter.

You pat his back and tell him. "Dave. It' okay."

Dave still didn't want to let go, even though you told him it was okay. His bro picked him up, only Dave was still clinging to your arm. Dave started to lift you up with him. He was holding so tightly around your arm, it was starting to fall asleep. Still, Dave wasn't letting go, _"nooooooo."_

"Awww!!!" Rose's mom put a hand up to her face to hide her smile.

"Hold on." your dad was talking to Mr. Strider, "let me get the camera."

He sighed and put Dave back down on the ground.

Dave grabbed onto your entire body. He grabbed onto you like a koala grabbing bamboo. When you thought of that it made you laugh. Dave is super funny. You started hugging Dave too. Dave buried his head into your shirt.

Your dad took a couple of pictures of the two of you sitting on the floor. Even when your dad was finished taking photos, Dave kept holding you close.

Mr. Strider walked up to you both again. Dave started hugging you tighter.

"We'll visit again soon." Dave's bro started untangling Dave's arms off of you. Every time he got one of Dave's arms off Dave grabbed you again, it made Dave's brother seem really annoyed but Rose's mommy thought it was really cute. She kept saying "awww," while Mr. Strider tried breaking you free from Dave's arms. When you were finally free, Dave started sniffing.

His bro hoisted Dave up into his arms. Dave started tearing up because he had to let you go.

"Come on, big guy." His big bro patted his back and reassured him, "chill."

Rose's mom came over to kiss the top of Dave's head. "You okay, little guy?"

You saw him shake his head no.

Dave's bro told her, "he's just sad he has to give up his catch." 

"Ugh." Rose's mom nodded. "I know how that is. Never get to keep 'em."

Mr. Strider nodded. "Love 'em and leave."

"I don' wanna leave!" Dave started crying. "I wan' John!"

You sat up from the ground and walked up to Mr. Strider's legs. You patted him to get his attention and he looked down at you. "I can walk wit' Dave to de car if he sad."

Dave lifted up his head again, he gave his bro a stern look, then nodded. Dave's bro pulled his head back a bit. Mr. Strider gave Dave a slight nod back.

Mr. Strider put Dave back down on the ground and you took Dave by the hand. You walked with him to the front of the house. You had to wait on his bro to open the big door for the two of you. You walked down the big steps with him and took him over to- you gasped. There was a super cool red race car in the driveway. You dragged Dave over to look at it. It must be Mr. Strider's car! You never look at the front of Ms. Lalonde's house because your dad always carries you out in his arms and you try to sleep. You can't believe you almost missed this super cool race car!

Dave's bro opened up the backseat for Dave. He hoisted him up again.

"Come on, big guy." He started putting Dave into the back.

You watched as Dave started to kick his brother.

Dave yelled, "I don' sit in the baby seat! I sit in the front! Like a big kid!"

Mr. Strider almost snorted. "You really trying to impress this kid, little man?"

"No!" Dave yelled at him. "I'm a big kid!"

"Okay, big guy." Mr. Strider tried putting him in the backseat again.

"No!" Dave started pounding on his bro's back. "Le' me go!"

Ms. Lalonde walked up with Rose in her arms. She told Dave, "we know you're a big tough guy. But just for today, you have to sit in the back seat."

"John?!" You heard your sister call for you. You peaked from behind the open car door. You saw her walking with your dad out of the front door. He was carrying all your stuff in his duffel bag. You ran up to him and asked, "juice box!?" Your dad lowered his brows and dug through the bag for you. Your dad leaned down and handed it to you, he opened his mouth to ask you a question but you were already running back over to the cool red car. You almost tripped but you caught yourself. You can't crush this juice box! It's to make Dave feel better!

You ignored your dad when he called for you to not run, you had to make sure that Dave got the apple juice before he left! When you got back to his car you caught your breath as you called out his name. "Dave!"

Dave looked surprised at seeing you. He was buckled up in the backseat. He glared at his big bro, it was a really mean stare. He must not be happy about sitting in the backseat.

You hold up the juice box for him. "It for you!"

You crawl up the car and hand it over to him. "I sit in the backseat all de time. It okay."

Dave takes the juice box from your hand and he starts turning red again.

He turns red all the time! He's super funny so you laughed again.

"Don't get too close to him." Mr. Strider sounded like he was happy, but he still looked scary. "Get too close and he's just going to cling on to you again."

You pop out of the car and turn around. You saw your dad smiling with your sissy by his side. Ms. Lalonde was smiling at you as she cradled Rose in her arms. You told Mr. Strider, "your car is really cool!"

"Oh." Mr. Strider smiled. "This is actually Dave's car."

"Really!?" You turned around and looked at Dave. "Is dat truwe?!"

"Ye-yeah!" Dave nods a couple of times. "It's mine!"

"Wow! You're super cool!" You cheer, Dave is cool _and_ he’s funny!

Dave is completely red now. You notice that even the bottom of his ears are red.

Suddenly, your twin sister grabbed your hand.

You looked back at Jade and she was rubbing her eyes, "John. 'm tired. I wanna go home."

"Okay." You turned and waved Dave goodbye. "Bye bye, Dave! I want to ride in your car sometime."

"Okay!" He called out to you. “Boye!”

You waved goodbye to Rose, she was still sitting in her mommy's arms. Her mouth was open like she was confused about something. "Goo'bye." She told you and then she looked back at Dave.

Your dad started to walk with you and your sissy back to your lame, boring car.

You heard the adults behind you laugh and talk a bit as you walked down the driveway.

"Wow, Dave did you hear that you're super cool?" Ms. Lalonde told him as she bounced Rose in her arms.

"He gave you a juice box. Shit, little man." -You gasped. He said a** bad** word.- "Next time you aren't going to let go until we get a damn crowbar."

Rose told him. "He gave him three juice box."

"Oh." Ms. Lalonde nodded at her daughter. "We really are going to need that pry bar."

* * *

You saw Dave a couple of times after that. Everytime Dave would run over to you and hug you until you asked him if you could play. He _reeaaally_ liked hugging you. Dave's bro told you that he talked about you all the time. Dave got really mad whenever Mr. Strider talked too much to you.

"Everyday I have to call your dad and ask how you're doing for Dave-"

"Bro!" Dave yelled as he hugged you tighter. "Shut up!"

You gasped. You nudged him off of you a bit.

Dave looked at you like he was worried.

You told him, "you said a bad thing!"

"I didn't mean to!" Dave told you, he looked and sounded really upset.

"You can't say bad words! Only adults can say bad words!" You tell him.

"I'm sworry!" Dave looked like he was about to cry.

"It okay." You pat him. "You say sorry." You pointed at his older bro.

"I'm sorry..." Dave apologizes like you told him too. "John, can we play truck?"

"Yeah." You nod at him. "I have two trucks! You can play with me!"

Dave held onto your arm with one of his own arms as he rolled his truck on the ground.

You make sounds for the both of you, pretending to crash into his car.

Dave laughed, you like Dave's laugh, it makes you feel really happy that you make your best friend happy.

You noticed that his older brother had a camera, he was recording it. You smiled for him, Dave noticed that you were looking at something so he looked up too.

"Bro!?" Dave yelled at him as he stared into the camera.

"I just wanted to get some footage of your date, big guy."

**"BRO!"** Dave stood up and yelled at him. **"Go away!"**

Dave was starting to turn red again. He seemed really angry. You didn't want him to start yelling cause he'll get in trouble. You stood up and grabbed his hand. "Let' go play outside!"

Jade gasped. Your twin sister sat up from the sofa as she yelled, "I want to play tag!"

"We not done here!" Rose clicked her pen as she held up her notepad. She sounded like an adult when she talked like that.

"Let's play tag first!" Jade told her. "My butt hurts from all da sitting!"

You started laughing. Jade was so silly sometimes. Dave held onto your hand. You looked back at him.

"Um... How do de ocean say hi?" Dave asks you.

He's telling you a joke! You love jokes!

"How?!" You ask him.

"It..." Dave sounds really nervous. "it...it... waves."

You give him a big grin and laugh. He looked really sweaty and his face was all red. Dave is super funny. Your best friend makes you feel happy all over! You pull him into a big hug and swing him from side-to-side.

You looked back at Mr. Strider. He was still recording everything. Before you could say anything Jade took your hand. She was dragging Rose with her in her other hand. She wanted to go run around outside and you always had to do whatever she wanted to do. That didn't matter though, you wanted to play tag with everybody.

You chased after Dave but he was so fast. It started to hurt your feelings that you couldn't catch up to him. You started slowing down and you were ready to give up. Dave noticed you weren't chasing him so he walked up to you.

"You kay?" He tilted his head and looked into your glasses.

You nodded. He grabbed your hand and put it over his heart.

You gasped. "Tag!"

You gave him a big smile. "You're it!"

. . .

After that he caught up to your sissy immediately and tagged her. Right after she turned around and started chasing him, Dave started running besides you. You started laughing seeing that Jade was coming up behind you. You screamed when she started to get close. Dave cut in behind her and got hit for you.

"Awwww!" Jade whined. "It's no fair when you're it! You too fast!"

You told Jade, "let's play a new game!"

Rose told you all, "we can play therapy."

Jade ignored her and suggested, "we can play hide-and-seek!"

"Rose," your sister turned to her. "You go count!"

Rose narrowed her eyes and pouted. "You guys stay on the first floor, or it's too hard."

"Okay!!!" Your sister yelled, "count to thirty!"

"If you can count that big!" You joke.

Rose hits your shoulder. Dave immediately starts cracking up.

He really liked your joke! You gave him a big grin and started laughing. Dave's laugh is funny too!

"One. Two."

Oh no! Rose is already counting.

Your sissy is already gone.

"Go hide!" You tell Dave.

You run down the hall and find a big chest. You look inside if there's anything in it. It's empty! You open it up and start getting in. Suddenly, someone is holding open the chest for you to get in.

"Thanks, Dave!" You whisper as you thank him.

You sit inside and wait for Dave to close it for you.

He starts getting into the chest with you.

"Dave, find your own hiding spot!" You yell and whisper at him at the same time.

"Sowrry-" He's too loud so you cut him off.

"Shhh!" You shh him.

You think it's been thirty seconds already.

"Come here." You whisper. "She'll find us both if you don't come ova' here!"

Dave got into the chest with you. You kept a small part of the top open so you could breathe better. Dave was really close to you. He wasn't giving you any room. Every time you scooched over Dave came closer towards you.

"Stop it!" You whisper at him. "you alway' do dis!"

He backed away from you and crawled over to the other corner. Dave gave you enough room so you stayed on the lookout for Rose.

You heard footsteps. You gasp. Oh no! You think she heard you because the footsteps are getting louder. When she opened up the chest you squealed and laughed.

"Found you." Rose gave you a small smile.

Rose was still holding open the chest as she looked over at the corner when she noticed Dave. You looked at him too, Dave was really quiet and holding onto his legs. He seemed really sad about something. Dave got up from the chest and started walking outside. You and Rose both watched him.

"Is he gonna tattle on you for something you did?" Rose asked you.

"I don' know." You shrugged, you didn't do anything wrong though... "Hey wanna find Jade together?"

"Yeah." She smiled. She wanted the help. "After I wan' play therapy with Dave, he need it."

. . .

Together, you both hunted down Jade. She was super smart so she found a really good hiding place. She hid right between the two couches in Rose's living room where she always does therapy. She told you she hid where you guys always were so you wouldn't think to look there! After Jade told you how she hid so good she looked around and asked you both, "where is Dave?"

"I don't know... I think he's with his bro?" You tell her.

"Let's go!" Jade tells you. "I want a juice box anyway."

The three of you walked outside to the back porch.

You saw all the adults sitting down, your dad was smoking a pipe and Rose's mom was drinking her purple juice. Dave's bro was drinking something out of a brown bottle.

Dave was laying down on his chest.

Dave was crying and sniffling into his brother's shirt.

"Dave!?" You walked up to the table right where Ms. Lalonde was sitting. Your sister and Rose were both behind you.

Dave didn't look up at you but his bro did.

"Dave." Ms. Lalonde tried to get Dave's attention. "Your best friend is here."

Dave started crying harder into his bros white shirt.

"Dave." You asked him, "did I hurt your feelings?"

His face was still buried in his brother's chest. Dave sounded like he was trying not to cry any more. He nodded as he grabbed onto a fist full of his big bro's white shirt.

You look down at the ground. "I'm... sworry..."

"Aww. John, it's okay." Ms. Lalonde started rubbing circles on your back, she was still holding her silly looking glass in her other hand. "Davey's just sensitive."

"Yep." His bro patted Dave's back as he sighed like he was tired.

Rose's mom told you, "and he's a hugger."

You offer Dave, "you can hug me ag'an."

Dave lifted up his head and sniffled. He turned his head and looked at you.

You opened up your arms to him. He hopped off of his bro and ran into your arms. He held onto you and swayed you back and forth. You patted his back. "Just don' hug me all the time." You tell him.

Dave pulled you closer and whined to you, "no!"


	2. Makes It Better

Every time that Dave got scraps and owwies you’d kiss it better.

One time when you got to Rose’s house, your dad showed himself in. He walked with you and your sister to the back porch. Dave and his big bro were already there. “John!” Dave ran up to you and showed you his elbow got a bad owwie.

It looked like it hurt but Dave looked really happy.

You didn’t get why he looked so happy but he pointed at it and told you it hurt really bad. So you kissed it three times. Dave turned red like he always does.

Your dad put all his stuff on the table and he knelt down on one knee in front of you two. Your dad asked Dave, “Dave, did you hurt yourself on purpose?”

“I don’t know what purpose mean.” Dave said as he grabbed onto you.

Rose was still in her mom's arms, she told Dave. “He ask you, if you fell cause you wanna cut.”

Dave crosses his arms. He started to look mad.

“Dave?” Your dad asked. “Did you hurt yourself because you wanted to?”

Dave grabbed onto you and buried his head in your shoulder.

“Dave.” You told him and hugged him tighter. “I don’ wan’ you getting hurt!”

Dave pulled you tighter. He grabbed onto the back of your shirt and he didn’t let go until you told him you wanted to play outside.

Once you were in the backyard, Dave didn’t leave your side at all. Still you got worn out from playing with a big ball Rose’s mom got for the four of you to play with. You went back up to the porch and crawled into your dad's lap. He held you without any questions, only… Dave wanted to crawl up to. Your dad picked him up and Dave wrapped one of his arms around you.

You fell asleep in your dad’s arms. When you woke up you yawned. You smacked your lips together and sat up your dad’s knee. You saw that Dave was still asleep on your dad’s other knee so you patted him to wake up. He’s your best friend and you want to play with him again for as long as you can be together.

“Dave.” You grabbed onto his hand. “Wake up.”

Dave opened up his eyes and rubbed them. He started turning red again when he noticed you were holding his hand.

_“Awww.” _You heard a lady say, _"babies."_

You turned your head and saw Rose’s mom was watching the two of you.

“Hey, little heartbreaker.” You looked at Dave’s big bro. You didn’t know what he meant or who he was talking too. “Dave got you a gift.” He was talking to you.

“He did!?” You perked up, you grabbed tighter around Dave’s hand.

His bro fumbled around under the table and pulled out. You gasped. A big box of gushers!

“I love gushers!” You turn to Dave, “Thank ‘ou, Dave!”

His bro dug out a packet for you two to share as he told you, “the whole box is yours.”

“Dave! You’re so cool!” Dave always makes you really happy!

Dave started turning red completely.

Even his ears were red! Just like his eyes!

Dave is so funny! You want to hug him more.

You took the packet in your hand, you tried to open it but you couldn’t.

Dave took it for you and he fumbled around with it till he got it open. He handed it to you. You felt really happy he could open it himself for you, so you gave Dave a kiss because he likes those. He’s weird and funny like that but you didn’t care because you had gushers!

_**“Awwwww!”**_ Rose’s mom told Dave, “**babyboy!** You’re a little charmer.”

Dave’s bro told her, “think the Egbert kid is the charmer here.”

You asked Ms. Lalonde. "What'a charmer?”

“It's a word for someone that people really, really like because they’re sweet and nice and cute." She pointed a finger at you. "Just. Like. You.” She booped your nose. You giggled.

You ate some of your gushers and tried to share some with Dave. Everytime you put one in Dave's hands he would take them back and put them in your mouth instead. He wanted you to eat them all so you guessed all the gushers really **were** for you and only you. When you finished you asked your dad for some juice. He got you both two juice boxes from off the table. Dave handed you his. He wanted you to put in the straw for him because you’re really good at it. All the adults kept talking about things you didn’t understand.

You gave Dave back the juice box and he took a _really_ big sip.

You thanked your dad for the juice by saying, “I love you, dad!”

Dave put his juice box down on the table. He started slapping your hand that was holding your juice box. You turned to look at Dave and he gave you a mean look. You didn’t get why.

Dave whines, “I give you gushers, say you love me!”

“I love you, Dave.” You tell him. “You my best frien'.”

Dave turned red and grabbed onto you again as you sipped your juice. He started hugging you tighter and made you turn towards him more. He hugged you so tight that he accidentally crushed your juice box between the two of you. You sniffled. The rest of the apple juice was drenching your shirt and you couldn’t drink anymore. You started crying. Dave let go and he grabbed his juice box from the table.

“John! Have mine!” He put it in your hands. “I’m sorry! please don’t cry!”

You wiped your eye and started sipping the juice Dave gave you.

“I love you, John!” Dave started tearing up... so you kissed him again to make him feel better.

"I love you too, Dave." You kept sniffling, "don be sad, Dave."

"Then you don be sad!" Dave's eyes keep watering

You heard a long tiny squeal. You turned and saw Rose’s mommy giggling and clapping her hands together. She whispered, “sooo cute!”

“What?!” Dave yelled at her as he started to sniffle.

"Nothing!" Ms. Lalonde lifted up one of her hands in defense, she was still holding on to her funny looking glass in her other hand. "But, _you knooow..._ if you wanted a kiss from John you could just ask, babyboy."

"NO!" Dave yelled at her. "Don't be weird!!"

"He can't do that, Rox." Mr. Strider tells her, "he's a player. He's got a strategy."

“Ah." Rose’s mommy told Dave's bro. "He gets it from you.”

She chuckled like she was making fun of Dave's big bro, even though he looks really tough and scary.

"Well it's working," Mr. Strider tells her. "he got a little boyfriend, don't he?"

“Hu?” You ask the table. “What’s a boyfriend?”

“Bro! Stop!” Dave yelled at him.

Dave's bro ignored him and started chuckling. He kept explaining to you, “boyfriend’s go on dates but-" you cut Dave’s bro off and ask him, “like play dates?”

“Sure.” Mr. Strider nodded and shrugged.

“So..." you ask all the adults, "I’m Dave’s boyfriend because I’ his best friend?”

Rose’s mom tells you, “well... boyfriends _like_ like each other, sweatpea.”

“I like like Dave!” You tell her as you bounce on your dad's knee. “I love Dave!”

Dave holds onto your hand as he tells the table, **“he love me!”**

Dave’s bro starts chuckling again, “wow, you two are moving too fast.”

Rose’s mommy starts laughing, she covers her mouth with her hand as she cackles at something... you don't know what's so funny.

“Dave, get a prenup.” Dave’s bro lightly laughs. “Think this thing through, big guy.”

“Mr. Strider?" You ask, "what a pre-up?” 

”Ha.” He answers. “It’s for when you move on, little heartbreaker.”

“What you mean?” Dave sounds really sad.

Dave grabs onto your arm and pulls you close.

Your dad pats Dave’s back to get his attention, you both look up at him and he tells you two, “he’s just teasing you both. You aren't boyfriends."

**“No!”** Dave yelled at your dad like he was defending himself. Dave grabbed on tightly onto your arm with both of his arms. **“We in love!”**

“Don’t be mean!” You told Dave, “no yelling!”

“Sworry.” Dave looked sad. “But you my boyfriend.”

“Okay!” You told him, you still didn’t get what it meant but if Dave looked unhappy you’d play along. Dave held onto your hand and Ms. Lalonde swatted around the table, she was looking for something. She dragged up a camera and started taking pictures of the two of you again. You sipped on Dave's juice box and Dave started turning really red. He looked mad at the adults at the table for some reason. You told him that "it okay."

Dave nodded. “It okay cause you here.”

You kissed him on the cheek because he’s funny and he likes kisses and you like making him feel happy!

. . .

Later on, you finished the rest of the juice box Dave gave you. You want to go play trucks again. You put down the empty juice box on the table. You were about to get up but Dave patted your arm.

“John." Dave looked worried, "my owwie still hurts.”

“Can a grown up help?” You asked the table.

“I already washed it out.” Rose's mommy told you, “he started kicking me when I put on a bandaid.” She giggled a bit as she pouted.

“I can put it on!” John told her. “I have cool band-aids.” Dave probably didn’t like them because they were tan and lame. You have race-car ones! You asked your dad for some stuff. He gave you a little tube of clear paste and you put a lot on Dave’s red scrap. You put on a cool band-aid, the cars on it looked like his car! You smiled at it.

You proudly look up at him and ask, "better?"

Dave started turning red again. “You have to kiss it." He pointed down at his band-aid.

“Okay!” You kiss it for him. You jump up off of your dad’s knee and land on the ground. “I want to play inside!”

“Okay.” Dave instantly jumped down followed you inside to play.

You could swear as you ran off you heard all the adults whispering to each other about something and laughing.

Dave started to look angry again, so you kiss his cheek to make him feel better.


	3. Something Real

Next time you saw Dave your dad told you that you could ride in his car! Your dad in your special car seat into the back of the car and then put both you and Dave in the back. He told Dave that you can’t drive too fast in his car and you told your best friend you always listen when your dad sounds serious. You held Dave’s hand the whole time while Dave’s bro drove you around. They put on some rap music. Dave told you that he really likes rap so you told him you liked it too. You want Dave to think your cool like he is so he likes you more!

Dave’s bro parked the car again. He turned around and told you both, “dates over.”

Dave turned red and started looking angry at him again.

You pat Dave's hand to get his attention. "Dave, it okay."

"No. I want to go on real date!" Dave tells you.

"Okay." You nod. He wants another playdate. "We can play."

"Nooo!" Dave whine. "Real date!"

You didn't know what he meant by that. You asked Mr. Strider when he took you out of his car. "Whata real date?"

"Don't worry bout that, little man" He put you back down on the ground.

"Dinner!" Dave tells you, he still looked mad at his bro, "and then we kiss! Like grown ups do!"

"wha... dinna?" You didn't know what he meant, do grownups make dinner together? Is that a real date? Did he want to cook food. You aren't allowed to go near the stove when it's on or use knives. How are you supposed to make dinner with him?

. . .

You walked with Dave in your hand back to your dad on the back porch. Dave's bro was telling the adults about how your car ride went.

"Dave didn't score a kiss this time."

Dave looked really mad at his bro. He held your hand really tight. You walked up with him to your dad and asked "can you help us make dinn'r?"

Your dad leaned in to ask you, "what are you asking, son?"

"Dave want to eat dinna with me." You tell him.

"I wanna real date!" Dave was really loud.

You shhed Dave again, he never used his inside voice unless he was really red.

"We have date if you quiet!" You told him.

Rose's mom started stomping her heels into the wooden floor of the porch. "Oh my god! Let me make them a little something!" She got up and walked up to the backdoor. Ms. Lalonde turned around to look at you and Dave again. She pointed at the two of you and gleefully told you. "You two wait here."

"Okay!" You crawled up on your dad's lap. Dave crawled up too.

Your dad looked down at you and asked, "was the car ride fun?"

"It was really cool!" You tell your dad. You wanted to pump up your fists but Dave was holding onto you again. You thanked Dave for the ride in his awesome car, "thank 'ou, Dave for taking me in your cool car!"

Dave asked you, "you give it up now?"

You felt your dad take in a breath, like he was gasping.

You looked up at your dad so Dave did too.

Your daddy asked Dave, "where did you learn to say that?"

Dave pointed at his older bro with one hand, "he say that to people on phone he wanna kiss.”

"Little man." Dave's bro tells him. "Don't listen in to my conversations on the phone."

Mr. Strider always sounds scary to you, even if he isn't trying to be.

"and don't talk like that. If you want a kiss say you want a kiss." Mr. Strider pointed at his little brother. "Don't follow my example."  You think he's trying to be nice but his voice is so deep it's like a scary growl. You hold Dave tighter.

Dave patted your arms, "give me kiss now."

You pulled away from him. He sounded really rude and he didn't say please. You don't like that at all! You shake your head no and look angry at him. "You say please."

Mr. Strider started laughing, "ohh man."

"What?!" Dave sounded upset. He was yelling at his bro again.

"Nothing." His bro kept laughing.

"You laughing at me again..." Dave sounded sad.

You don't like when he sounds sad, it makes you feel hurt too.

Your dad always cheers you up when you feel sad, maybe he can cheer up Dave too.

"Dad." You look up at him, "Dave wanna go on a rweal date. What a real date?"

"Oh, son." Your dad started patting your back. "You're too young for something like that."

"Noo!" Dave yelled again.

You shhed Dave, "no yelling!"

"B-but." Dave looked at you. "I wanna date you like grownups do."

You tilt your head as you look at him. The two of you aren't grownups. Dave isn't even old enough to drive his car yet. Still... Dave might get sad if you say no. He's your best friend so you want him to be happy, you keep playing with him ‘the boyfriend game’ cause it makes him happy. You hold onto him again and you keep holding onto him until Ms. Lalonde comes back out.

"Boooys!" She was peeking her head out of the room. "Ready for your _'rweal date?'_"

You let go of Dave and jumped down to the ground. You helped Dave down and walked over to Ms. Lalonde as she smiled at Dave's older bro, "Dirk. Bring the camera!"

All of the adults got up and started walking with you two. Dave's bro started talking to Ms. Lalonde about Dave again, "big guy's got a type."

"Whad ya' mean?" She was trying to be quiet so she leaned into Mr. Strider and whispered.

Mr. Strider tried to whisper but his voice is too deep, "John chews him out whenever he's loud and forces him to be polite, like a goddamn miracle worker.”

"Ohhh, ha!" She covered her mouth with her hand. "Dave probably gets it from you. You always liked 'nice guys.'"

"Shut it." Mr. Strider told her. She laughed like it was a joke but you thought he sounded scary.

"Whaaaat?!" She told Dave's big bro, "you like guys who are stubborn and put you in your place. Same thing."

He scoffed at that. "You know, Rox... He hasn't worn shades since he started playing with John too."

She gasped. "No! Oh my god. I'm so proud." Ms. Lalonde claps her hands together and giggles, "Daveybaby is gaining confidence because he has a little baby lover boy!" She grabbed one of Mr. Striders hands as she walked. "This is great!"

"Of course you think that. You don't live with him." Mr. Strider whispered to her in an even husher tone. "Every-fucking-day it's when are we going to see John again? Can I call John? John told me this. John likes that. It's fucking old."

You never heard that word before. Maybe it's an adult word. You'll have to ask Rose, she knows all the bad words cause she's 'booksmart.'

"Well I think it's _'fucking' _cute." Rose's mommy whispered to him. "And you can't say you don't have this coming, remember all the boy problems you used to bother _me_ with? hmm?"

Ms. Lalonde stopped whispering. She grabbed a door handle and told you and Dave, "Okay boys! I made you a dinner date!"

Dave grabbed onto your hand tighter. You looked at him and he gave you a big smile.

Rose's mommy opened the door for you both. She showed you into one of her pretty square rooms with a nice rug.

Ms. Lalonde set up Rose's tea table for you. She put a tablecloth on top and took away some of the chairs. She made you  some snacks, orange slices, grapes, apple slices, cheese, and some dorito chips. She dimmed down the lights in the room as she giggled to herself. There was a little orange light coming out of a small bottle she put in the middle of the table. She nudged your dad and told him, "it's electric so don't blow a gasket." You think she's talking about the light. Your dad doesn't like you around fire, but it's probably safe if your dad isn't yelling at you while you sit down.

You look at Dave as he takes a seat across from you. He's completely red. 

All of the adults are still watching you so you look over at them. 

You aren't sure what you're supposed to do, you don't know if this is a game or that you're just eating snacks. You take one of the grapes and bite it in-half.

"Yo-you-" Dave starts talking so you look up at him. "You like de foo'?"

You thought it was nice that Dave actually asked you if you liked the food, you nodded and smiled at him.

"Yo- you." Dave looked down at the orange slices in front of him, "you look nice."

"Tank yo'" You started grinning. Dave is being really nice so you let him know, "I like when you nice."

Dave looked up and asked you, "what you mean?"

"Sometime you not nice." You point at him with the uneaten half of your grape. "sometime you rude."

"Am I rude too you?" Dave sounds concern.

"Sometime, but we best frien'... but you always mean to adults. You yelled at my dad." You explain, "you should be nice to everybody."

"I promise I be better!" Dave puts his hands on the table and leans in to get a better look at your face in the dark.

"Okay." You nod. "Just try."

You hear giggling from the side of the room. Rose's mommy was laughing. 

Dave looked really mad at her.

He opened his mouth like he was going to yell at the adults to leave.

He closed his mouth and looked back down at the food. 

Dave asked nicely, "can you all weave, please?"

"Alright, but tell us when you're done eating so I can clean up." Rose's mommy answered. 

You heard the adults mutter to each other as they started to leave the room,

Rose's mommy told them, "I already gave Jadeybaby and my grumpy girl some snacks." 

Your dad thanked her and she lightly giggled they kept talking as they left the room.

"They weaft!" At the sound of Dave's happy, cheerful voice you turned your head to look at him, "now we on rweal date!"

Good things happen if your polite and nice too people. You're happy you could show Dave that!


	4. The Secret Everyone Knows

A lot of time went by. Years actually. You saw Dave on and off, even more so when your dad decided to marry Rose's mom. She was really nice, even if she always pinched your cheeks and kissed you all over with her sticky pink lips. You were the ring bearer at the wedding and you sat down in between Dave and your sissy right in the front. Dave started hugging you again. You let him because you didn't have anything else to do once you gave them the pillow. He told you that your suit looked really good on you. You told him that his looked cool. It was red, just like his eyes and his cool car.

When your dad got married he moved all of your stuff into Rose's mom's place... or... your moms. Rose wasn't to keen with the idea of having a new dad. She told you her mom used to date a lot of different guys and she never saw the same guy twice. You didn't know how she even knew that many people. You, yourself, don't have a lot of friends and now one of them is your sister.

You liked your new mom and your new grumpy sister and you especially liked your new house. It was huge and you loved playing in it as a little kid, now you're a big kid! So big now that your new mom let you have your own room! Your dad brought in all of your old stuff and your old bed. He gave you a new shelf to put all your stuff on. You put up your favorite truck and the other one that Dave always plays with right where you can reach it but still high enough that _anyone_ can see it!

Mr. Strider was busy with his work a lot, whenever that happened Dave would stay over your place with the three of you. Rose always wanted to play therapist, every gosh darn day, so you were happy that she would play that dumb game with Dave instead of you when he came over to stay overnight.

One day though... When Dave agreed to play with Rose therapy you gave Dave a hug and a kiss for taking the bullet in your place. 

Later in the day, Rose wouldn't stop giggling after one of her 'sessions' with Dave. Rose ran up to Jade and whispered a couple of things to her. Jade gasped as Rose talked into her ear.

"WHAT!?!" Jade ran out the room and upstairs. "MOM!"

You ran and followed her upstairs, your mom was already walking down the steps to head downstairs.

Your mom narrowed her brow and pouted at you both, "no running up the stairs."

"Sorry." You look down at the ground.

"We're sorry." Jade scratches her ankle with the back of her foot. "Mom, I have something to tell you!" Jade lifted up her arms. She wanted to be picked up.

"What is it, Jadeygirl?" Your mom picks her up and holds Jade up by her bottom.

Jade whispered something in her ear.

Your mom gasped. "Noooo way!"

She kissed Jade's cheek. "I had nooo idea!"

Jade giggled, she whispered another secret into your mom's ears.

Your mom bounced her up and down in her arms. "that's right baby, that's why."

Jade started snickering and covering her mouth with both of her hands. She whispered something else.

"Hu?" Your mom bounced her up one time. "Well, don't make fun. That's not nice."

"But you grown-ups do it!" Jade pointed at your mommy.

"Well..." Your mom looked off to the side, like she was caught.

Your mom bounced Jade up in her arms as she spoke, "I've got some good news. Because Dave is over we're having pizza!"

"Pizza!?" Jade gasped.

Just like last time!

You pump up your fist. "I love when Dave is over!"

You sat down at the table with your whole family and Dave. Dave wanted to sit down next to you. You told him that he can't hug you while you eat. He started to turn red.

"I know! I'm not dumb!" He sounded really mean.

You narrowed your eyes at him and started biting into your slice.

You heard Rose giggling so you looked over at her. Jade was giggling too.

"Why are you laughing?" You ask them.

They didn't answer they just started giggling more and pointed at Dave.

You look down at the table. The girls didn't tell you what was so important that Jade had to run to mom. You eat up the rest of your slice, down to the crust.

You look over at Dave and ask him, "do you want to play trucks later?"

"That's for babies." Dave told you.

"Oh..." You looked down at your plate and put down your crust. "That's okay... I'm tired anyway..."

"Dave." Your mom gets his attention. "You shouldn't be rude to John."

"I didn't do anything!" Dave told her. He pointed at you,** "he did!"**

"Now, Dave..." Your mom pauses long enough for you to cut her off.

"It's okay, mom." You sigh. "Can I go to bed early...?"

"If you brush your teeth real good." She points up a finger. "And get dressed for bed yourself."

"Yeah. I will." You get up and take your plate with you to the kitchen.

You brush your teeth on your booster stool. You're really tiny... it makes you feel even worse than before. When you get to your room you were ready to get changed but you saw the trucks on the shelf. You grabbed both of them and looked at them. Dave told you they were for babies. But you still think they're cool. Dave was being a jerk! But still... he's your best friend.

. . .

In the morning your mom woke you up.

"Honey?" She asked you. "Why did you throw out your trucks in your trash bin?"

"Because they are for babies."

"You know Dave is just going through a hard time right now..." Your mom sits down at the foot of your bed. She hands you back your trucks. "I talked with him about it. He was sorry that he was mean to you."

"It's okay..." You look down at your trucks.

"I think they are really cool, John." She tells you in a soft, caring voice, "but it doesn't matter what I think. What matters is if you like them."

"Yeah..." You look back up at her.

"Sometimes people are going to be rude to you, but you are tough John. I know how stubborn you can be." She smiles and pokes you in the chest. You giggle at how sily her voice sounds. "You're going to be fine, babyboy."

You immediately sigh again. "I know..."

You look down at your toys again, "but Dave doesn't like playing with me anymore..." 

"Awww, baby... He's still your best friend." She tells you. "He's just stressed about something..."

You sigh. "What did Jade tell you yesterday?"

"Oh... she told me a... secret." Your mom places her hand on yours.

"No one ever tells me secrets." You sigh and your mom starts to rub your hand.

Your mom keeps rubbing your hand as she leans over to kiss your forehead gently a couple times. She wasn't wearing anything sticky so her kisses are nice.

She gets back up off the bed. "Oh?" She tells you. "looks like you have a visitor."

You turned your head and looked at the door. It was Dave.

"I'll leave you two alone." She walked out of the room and patted Dave's arm as she walked out. She whispered to him as she passed him, "be nice."

"I'm sorry I was mean..." Dave walked in and sat down were your mom sat. "Rose and Jade were just making fun of me for something I said... and it made me mad..."

"That's okay." You looked back down at your trucks.

"I like your trucks..." Dave tells you.

"Aren't they for babies?" You narrow your eyes at him.

"That's... what my bro tells me..." Dave sighs. "I don't know... Roxy told me that my bro is wrong about a lot of stuff... She tells me I shouldn't listen to the mean stuff he says."

"He tells you mean stuff?" You tilt your head as you ask him.

"He tells me I need to man up a lot." Dave rubs his arms. Dave seems kind of sad so you sit up and you put your trucks down on your nightstand as you listen to him talk. "I don't know... Roxy says he's tough on me because he loves me... but he makes fun of me too..." He starts to sniffle. "All the grown ups think that my feelings are funny and now Jade and Rose do to..."

You hold onto Dave this time instead.

You hug him and wrap him up in your arms.

Dave pushes you off of him. "Stop it!"

You moved back and looked at Dave.

He seemed like he was getting upset again.

He was being really weird.

Dave got off the bed. "Don't hug me! I don't like the way it makes me feel!"

He was being really rude! You narrow your eyes at him again.

"Now **everyone** is going to laugh at me again!"

He stomped out of the room and you were left alone... again. You laid back down in your bed.

You aren't leaving this room until Dave is gone.

You aren't spending the day with that big mean jerk!


	5. Begin Again

It was years till you saw Dave again. You just started your first semester of high school and you had a few classes with him. He wore a red jacket over his private school uniform but at least he didn't wear shades all the time like his bro does.

There weren't a lot of kids attending your school so you had quite a few classes with him. It wasn't till the third class you had with him you talked to him again. You walked up to him when class ended. You lifted up your hand and said, "Hey." 

Dave nodded his head to acknowledge you and then walked away to leave the room.

You scoffed at that. He couldn't even say hi.

You weren't sure why exactly Dave rubbed you the wrong way, you remember that you were nothing but nice to him but he was an asshole to you for the last few times you saw him and then he never talked to you again.

You don't even see Dave when his bro came over and Dirk still comes over from time to time.

You're damn sure Dave just doesn't want to talk to anyone.

It's been weeks now and you haven't seen him talk to anyone in class, just sketch in his notebook and basically do jack shit. Whenever he gets called on in class he always admits that he wasn't paying attention. You aren't sure what his grades are but you know that they have to be shit with how little he cares about anything.

You walked into your English class, of course Dave was already there, sitting and drawing. You sat down in the middle of the class and took your seat. You dragged out your notebook and your pen. You looked on the board. Written right up there in black and white... you have a group project to do this week. Nice. Just another project you're going to have to do on your own, start to freaking finish.

You sigh as you drag out your library book. You can at least read some before class starts.

You kept thinking about Dave, how the two of you were so close when you were kids. Dave still to this day gets you gifts for your birthday every year but you are pretty sure they are just from his brother.

Sometimes he would laugh and tell you about how Dave was holding up. He told you he still asks about you. Like you can believe that. You didn’t see him for years. You sighed and closed your book when class started. You didn't read even one word of the damn thing, you're mind is elsewhere.

Your teacher assigned you up in groups of two. She wants you to write a double spaced 10 page paper on any novel of your choice and do a two minute presentation at the end of the week. Easy.

Everyone else in class groaned at the idea. It was a private school, did they think they wouldn't have to do any work?

Your teacher read out everyone working together. When she called your name, "John Egbert." you perked up and looked at her as she read the name of your partner. "You will be working with Dave Strider."

You rolled your eyes as you thought,

_'Of-fucking-course.'_

You narrowed your eyes and sat up. You walked over to Dave, you didn't expect that he'd care enough to get up... or that he'd even care enough to listen.

You placed your stuff on an empty desk and pushed it up against his. He jumped a bit when he noticed that you were pushing a desk into his. You sat down right next to his side and sighed out of your nose.

"Hi." You tell him.

He nods at you. Doesn't even say hi back.

Oh, if he was trying to piss you off he just did.

You shake your head and try again. "What's going on with you, Dave?"

"Nothing." He looks down at his notepad. He must have written or drawn something pretty crude because he just flipped it closed.

"Really? Nothing?" You tilt your head down as you ask him.

He nods again and scratched the back of his neck.

"Is there a reason for why you keep avoiding coming over my place then?"

"Huh... no." Dave looks at you. "I've just been... doing stuff?"

You narrow your eyes as you think, _'yeah hu... stuff.'_

"Well." You begin again, "we have a project together. Think we can at least do **that** at my house?"

"Yeah... uh... sure. I can do whatever you want- I mean!" He clears his throat. "I mean that I can do any part of the project you want."

"Great." You smile at him as you take a deep breath into your nose. You could actually use the extra hand if he's going to offer it. You have about three exams this week. Still, for some reason Dave just pisses you off. You just get this feeling like he's going to say he'll help and then blow you off. He's going to leave you alone with all of this work.

You shake your head as you shake off the thought. You could at least give him a chance.

"Here." You take out your notebook and get out an old math sheet. You rip out a small slice and write with your large blue pen your phone number along with your name, just in case he already forgot. "This is my number. Call me tonight if you're serious about this..." you roll your eyes. "Or I can just do this project by myself like always."

"Awesome..." Dave lightly speaks the words, "you have a novel in mind...?"

"Too many... that's the problem." You practically groan.

"Do you like books?" Dave asks you.

You nod at him like he's an idiot. "Yeah."

Dave looks down and notices that you have a novel on your desk.

"Oh..." He scratches the back of his hand with his other one. "I guess I only remember things about you from when we were kids."

"Same here... oh but your bro told me that you're into remixing music." You told him, you at least know something about him.

"Oh. Yeah... he told me that you're into coding."

"I am actually, yeah." You nod as you push up your glasses from the bridge of your nose.

The two of you talked a little bit about what you could do for the project...

Well... actually Dave talked a little bit... you talked a lot.

You just get carried away easily. You ended up describing all of the books you've been reading lately, you were thinking that dystopian literature was probably the best thing to write about though._ 'Teachers eat that shit up.'_ He asked you if you knew anything a bit more cheerful, maybe like a romance. You don't really read a lot of things like that but you told him if he knew anything that you could read it. He seemed impressed that you could grind through a novel in less then a day when he hardly finished any of the readings you had in class, that's becasue the books are the shit or shit you already read. You can only read Lord of the Flies so many times.

You ate dinner with your two sisters and your dad. Your mom was apparently out with Dave's brother, your dad had work so he didn't want to go out drinking. Yeah... you're pretty sure that your mom does more than just drink. She seems a bit too hyper to be drunk when she gets back late. You were just about to go to bed when your phone started buzzing. You completely forgot that Dave was supposed to call you.

You pick up, "hey-o."

Dave replied with a blank, monotone voice, "hey." 

You waited a few moments for him to say something else.

You decided to kill the silence yourself, "so you think you can come over on Wednesday and help me figure something out?"

"Sure." Dave replies. Is it so hard for him to say more than one word at a time?

"You figure out what you want to do a report about?" You ask him.

"Uh... well... I think you should pick a novel that... you know, you like?"

You sigh. You're going to just pick something and stick with it. You're too tired for this indecisive shit. You tell him that the two of you can meet after class and he can ride the bus with you back home. He tells you, "actually we can take my car."

"Oh yeah? The one you got when you were like six?" You joke.

"No... my actual... car." He sounded a bit deflated.

You rolled your eyes, "okay. Text me when classes are over Wednesday and I'll find you in the parking lot. Night."

"Night." He hung up right after he said the word.

Not that you're complaining.

You could use the rest.

* * *

When the day rolled around you were eager to get this over with.

Dave had a red ferrari with a few scratches. Five-year-old you would be in heaven right now to be sitting up front but if Dave was anything like he was back then, he'd kill you both from how desperate he'd be to cling onto you. You feel like joking about that with him but he'd probably just nod or grunt at you. You sigh and direct him how to get to your house from here.

When you got back home you beat both of your sisters. '_Oh shit...' _you probably should have told everyone you have company. Ah well. _'C'est la vie.'_

You showed him in and took him up to your room. It was a lot different then when you were a kid. Your room was mostly filled with stacks of books and crumpled up notebook pages. You still had a photo of you, Dave and your two sisters from when you were a kid. Dave kept staring at the photo for a while until you broke his concentration. You told him to sit down on your bed while you get what you need.

When you got back with your laptop from downstairs you sat down besides him, the two of you get to work on your bed. You type up a short draft. Dave assumed you were just trying to write the whole paper because you already had five pages done.

"No, I still have to work out which points where going to want to talk about for our presentation." You told him like he wasn't paying any attention, which you are damn sure that he wasn't. "I'm going to pick some key points to write about, for right now I'm just writing down my thoughts so I can organize them later."

Dave nodded. Nodded like he was braindead and only pretending to listen.

Whatever. At least he was physically here even if he wasn't mentally, you can make him do something if you can think of anything for him to do... _'hmm.'_

"Do you think you can make something on powerpoint later?" You ask.

"I can do anything you want." Dave replies. 

You're content with that.

You continue to stay focused on typing and getting down all of your thoughts on the novel. Dave is leaning against your wall, he's tapping his knuckles against the wall out of boredom as you type without speaking. Something about that pisses you off. You mutter to him, "can you be quieter?"

"Sorry." He stops. 

"Maybe we should move to my desk?" You're starting to get a bit of a head ache hunching your head this low to look at your laptop.

"Whatever you want, man." Dave tells you.

"John?" You hear your twin sister call out to you, "do you have someone over, I noticed a car?"

"Uh-" You call back, and towards your door, "Yeah! Dave's here."

"OH." She sounded surprised.

"We're working on a school project together!" You yell back at the door.

"Okay, I'll Leave You To It!" Oddly, Jade added extra emphasis on each word, like she was still surprised. 

. . .

When you felt like you had enough done for today, you closed your laptop and invited Dave to have dinner with you. Thankfully today your dad was cooking, usually it was either you or him. 

You walked out of the room, with Dave trailing behind you, to tell your dad that you had a visitor. You walked into the kitchen and told him, "I'll set up the table today."

Your dad narrowed his eyes at you when he saw Dave. You thought that he would be ecstatic about Dave joining you all for dinner again, you guess he had some negative thoughts about Dave too... after all he was rude to his only son for years. It's strange Dave is here now. 

You set up the table with help from Dave. He was kind enough to put out all the plates while you set down silver wear. You told him to wait for you while you helped your dad in the kitchen.

Your dad seemed a bit off too you today, he was definitely feeling awkward about having Dave in his house. You told him, "it's okay, Dad. Dave is only over to help me with a school project."

"Alright, son." There's a certain tone in his voice like he is uncertain about if he should trust that. You aren't sure why. But you don't pressure him further, you might just make him even more apprehensive about Dave.

. . .

Dave is sitting right next to you and cutting into his pork chop. You took a sip from your ice cold glass. The table was completely silent except for the sounds of forks and knifes scrapping plates. Usually you couldn't get anyone at the table to shut up, everyone loved joking around and poking fun at each other. You were looking a bit forward to showing your old best friend the way things have been for the past few years... but no one was saying anything. For some reason, out of the blue, Jade snickered.

"What is it guys?" You ask the entire table.

"Nothing." Your mom lifts up her hands in defense. "Just Dave is a rare sight, we're all just soaking it up."

Rose joked, "he's out of his den."

Jade giggled again. She whispered something to your other sister.

You narrowed your eyes at her. You took a bite of your dad's pork chops.

Your mom started talking to you, "_Yooou knoooow,_ Davey never wanted to let go of you, he was always clinging to you!" She started laughing. "I remember when you two were little and You had to go potty-"

“Mom.” You mutter at her.

Still, she kept on going, “Dave would not let go of you! He wanted to come with you to the bathroom.”

You hum at her in anger, so deep it was practically a growl.

“I had to get his big brother to pry him off so you could pee!” Your mom started laughing. Howling like it was the funniest fucking thing to her.

Jade was eating all of this up. “I don’t remember any of this! All I remember is Dave always clinging on to John!”

“I remember our therapy session.” Rose pointed up a finger, she was speaking to Dave.

You looked back at Dave. He looked beyond pissed at her.

Rose told him, "we had a major breakthrough in your psyche.” 

“Rose." Dave muttered at her. "Shut up.”

“You told me that John made you 'feel funny' so you always wanted to hug him.” Rose was mocking him. "And all the adults made you feel bad about it." She pouted at him.

“Aww!” You tell dave. “You had a crush on me?!”

“Rose!” Dave yelled at her.

Rose started to chuckle.

You talk to Dave as you look up at the ceiling, “I think I remember you always asking me to kiss your cuts.”

He started rubbing his eyes with his fingers. Pinching them together and trying to calm down. He must be embarrassed about his little childhood crush on you.

“Awww!” Your mom told the table. “And you took care of all of his owwies! You were his little boyfriend!” She told you.

“Oh…” you didn’t remember that.

Your mom continued, “You two would give each other juice boxes and little gifts and whenever Dave got sad you’d kiss him.”

“I remember that.” You point at your mom, “-and Dave was always sad."

You shrug. "That or pissed.”

Jade started cracking up and pointing at Dave. Rose was chuckling too. Jade asked the boy sitting next to you,

“Didn’t you make John tell you that he loved you like everytime you came over?”

“Shut. Up.” Dave told her.

"Oh!" Your mom perked up again. "And we had a little wedding for the two of them! I just put together a little something quick, awww you walked down the isle and Dave turned all red."

You started laughing along with your sisters. You didn't remember any of it.

"Roxy!" Dave was basically pleading with her to stop.

"Oh!" Your mom was still talking to you. "I gave you both little ring pops for your little wedding and Dave was so mad at me that I didn't have a raspberry one because it was your favorite flavor! Dave made your dad drive to the store and buy one."

You kept chuckling. Raspberry still was your favorite flavor. You can't believe you don't remember getting fake married to Dave. "I think I remember Dave kissing me on the cheek a lot when we were kids."

You chuckle. "Oh man! I can't believe I hardly remember any of this. It's gold!"

"I have photos!" Your mom practically yells the words at you. "I have to dig them out for next time Dave is over!"

"Next time?" Your dad asks her. He raises up a brow at her.

"Yes, baby. Next time." She nods at him.

Jade and Rose start laughing at your dad when he narrowed his eyes at Dave.

Jade started talking to Dave again, “I remember this time where we were playing at a playground together and John slipped off of some steps or feel off of a swing and you ran over and started cooing him and he wasn’t even upset about it.”

“Yes.” Rose continues, “or that time we all ate out some place and you stole my cookie to give to John.”

“He did that shit to me too!” Jade pointed at him. “You were always taking our stuff and giving it to him!!! You stole my M&M’s once and gave them to John and when I told him that you stole it John told me that ‘Dave would never steal ever.’ “ she used air quotes to illustrate you talking.

“You were running Dave defense whenever Dave did something wrong.” Your mom told you. “Dave would steal things from us too and bring them to you and then when we told you it was stolen you’d tell us that you took it because you didn’t want your little boyfriend to get in trouble.”

Jade laughed, “or that time Dave wet his pants and you told everyone that you sprayed water on him!” 

“Yes.” Your dad joined in. “Dave’s older brother would call me up and tell me Dave won’t stop crying because he missed John. When I gave the phone to you he’d stop crying instantly.”

“Aw.” You put your hand over your heart. That’s so sweet to you. “I remember that Dave and I used to play in my room together and he’d tell me he wanted to nap, then he’d hug me so much I couldn’t sleep.”

“Awwww!” Jade clasped her hands together. “Didn’t onetime he hug you so hard you peed your pants?"

“Jade!” You yell at her.

“What?" Jade shrugged. "It was Dave’s fault!” 

Everyone at the table started laughing.

Well...

everyone but Dave.

. . .

When dinner was over you saw Dave out the door and told him to come back tomorrow. After you closed the door, you were surprised that your dad was waiting right behind you.

"Son, can I talk with you for a moment?" Your dad pulls you aside, he brings you into the living room to sit down with him.

You're a bit worried. This seems serious.

"Son... I think it's time that we had a talk about safe sex."

"Dad, I'm pretty sure that there aren't any girls interested in me and I'm not interested in them, so." You nod and roll your eyes, "abstinence is the safest option." You say in jest.

"Son." Your dad sighs like he's disappointed with what you just told him. "Don't joke right now, alright?"

"I wasn't completely joking about that." You shook your head. "I don't care about girls."

"I know." Your dad nods. "Did you two... use a condom?"

You narrow your eyes at him and tilt your head down.

_'Just what is he asking... oh... oh god no...'_

"Dad! We were just doing a school project!" You tell him. "What the-!? You all thought I was-"

"John." Your dad says your name like he's asking you to calm down, "I need you to be honest with me."

"No I didn't have sex with Strider! I can show you the word document on my computer and the last time it was saved! We were writing a book report and I can just pull up my laptop if you're planning on giving me a sex talk..."

"Alright, son..." 

You take a deep breath in and out of your nose.

He sounds like he's convinced.

"Show me the document."

"UGH!" You groan.


	6. A Hard Time

Next day when Dave came over you worked on your report on the dining room table. You aren't letting anyone think for even a second that you two are banging in your room.

You are already pissed about what Jade and Rose have been snickering about amongst themselves whenever they see you. You know they are just making jokes to each other at your expense.

Right after you showed dad your laptop, Rose asked you how Dave was in bed. You busted open your laptop again and showed her the date and time you worked on your project. She told you that she was impressed you could_ "do him and the report at the same time."_

She says shit like that in front of Dave she's fucking dead.

At the moment, you are still working with Dave on your school project. Dave wasn't doing much but he was helping you out just by being there, even if he didn't do any work, you bounced ideas off of him and basically just kept rambling until you thought of an idea that was good. He promised that he would do the presentation for you. You were happy about that. You hated public speaking, you told him you were a bit shy. He seemed confused about that.

"You're pretty upfront with me." Dave tilts his head and narrows his eyes.

"Dave, we've known each other for years." You tell him like he's an idiot again.

"Well... we haven't seen each other in years..."

"And whose fault is that exactly?" You tilt your head at him and smile. "It's fine. Don't worry about it. I'm actually glad you missed my middle school phase. I was lanky and had braces."

"For like half a year my legs were too long for the rest of my body." Dave confesses.

"Yeah well... I just grew out of my voice crack." You tell him, "I hope."

He laughs at your additional comment.

You laugh too. "I can't believe we're like going to the same private school." You confess to him, "I thought your bro home-schooled you."

"Yeah... well..." He started scratching underneath his chin and then starts rubbing his neck. "I just thought I should actually get out there, you know..."

"That's cool." You nod. "Maybe we could actually like... hang out more and study for our other classes together. Your bro tells me you're pretty good at math."

"Hu yeah... That's probably the only thing I'm good at."

"I thought you'd be good at like... music or something?"

"No... I can't sing."

"Oh, anyone can sing." You wave him off.

"Well I blow at Chorus." He tells you.

"Ha! 'Blow' like coke or 'Blow' like cock?" You start cracking up.

He started to wheeze at your joke. His face was turning red. He started to pound his fist into his knee. You smiled and laughed along with him. Not a lot of people like your sense of humor so it's nice to see someone actually laugh at your jokes that isn't your hyped-up mom. You keep talking and cracking some jokes with him. You realized that you should be working a few minutes later. You think it's best you try to get as much of this done as you can now. You keep typing away. Scanning the paper for any errors along the way and correcting them as you go. Dave is still talking about a few things on his mind, hardly any of it is about the paper even though it started out that way. You just keep nodding along. You aren't even listening to him at this point.

"You uh..." He clears his throat. "You seeing anyone?"

He just asked you a question you hardly registered, so you ask him to repeat himself.

"You seeing... anyone?"

"Hu- Oh, I'm not really interested in girls." You have more important things to worry about then being rejected.

"Really? Hu..." Dave trails off, like he's lost in thought.

"Yeah..." you sigh "-and right now I think it's starting to become a problem."

"You... You think... You think so?" He asks you.

"Ugh... last night my dad thought that we were having sex in my room, can you believe that?!"

"Uh... nO, I can't." Dave coughed to fix his voice crack.

You laugh, that's funny to you that 'mr. cool' has a voice crack and you don't.

"Rose has been riding my ass about it too. It's been fucking endless comments from her and it hasn't even been a full day. I know her though, she never lets shit go."

"Ha... yeah... I was out for a while so my bro thought I was, you know, out getting it too."

You laugh at the way he phrased that.

You ask him, "you tell him you were out getting a grade?"

"Yeah... he didn't believe that." Dave looks down at the table.

"Did he give you a hard time about it?" You ask him.

"No... It was more like bombarding me with questions about safe-sex and shit like that."

"Ha. We're in the same boat. How funny is that?!" You laugh. "My dad did the same thing."

"Did your dad make you go out with him to buy a pack of condoms?" Dave asks.

"Ha!" You chuckle at that. "No but I think he was about to." You smile again. "It's kind of cool that we can not see each other for years and pick up being this close again."

"Yeah." Dave nods.

"I guess..." He trails off.

"You still like juice boxes?" You ask him.

"Oh fuck yeah." His attitude completely changed.

You chuckle at that. Covering your hand with your mouth.

You place your hand back down on the table, only to find that it is on top of Dave's hand.

You pick your hand back up and nervously chuckle. "Sorry."

Dave tells you that, "it's... it's okay."

"Let's- just get back into our paper, shall we?" You place your hands back on your keyboard.

You feel a small bead of sweat drip from under your bangs.

How awkward was that just now?


	7. Dinner With Him

Your mom cheerfully called for you in the morning right before you left for school,

"Babycutieboy!" Your mom brushed your bangs up and kissed your forehead, probably leaving a large pink mark, she was at least kind enough to brush up your bangs.

"I wanted to ask you," She began. "If you could make dindin for us and 'Mr.Strider.'"

"Ugh." You roll your eyes.

Your mom is poking fun of the fact you still call him that, well the guy is buff as hell and looks pissed at everything except for your mom. You aren't going to fuck with him.

You answer your moms question. "Sure."

"YAY!" Your mom pulled you into a tight hug. "I got the best cook in the house to make the whole gang a meal!" She dropped her cheerful tone and quickly told you, "don't tell your father I said you're the best."

"I wont." You laugh as you pat her arm.

"Good. I don't want my marriage to be at risk because I confessed that the student has supposed the master chef." She pulls you tighter into a hug and kissed the side of your head as you laughed.

. . .

You already text Dave that you can send him what you have and he can start work on a power point. You still have till the end of the week but you expect that Dave is the kind of guy who lets shit slide till the last second. 

When you got home you started work on finishing up the paper and mailing the first of your final drafts to him. You'd edit it again but you still have more work that needs to be done before you have to make dinner for six. 

. . .

Maybe make that seven. 

Dave’s bro came to visit again and this time he brought Dave with him.

You were the one to open the door for them, you didn't expect Dirk to look so menacing when you opened the door. You could not stop staring into his shade, sharp, sharp like wolf's teeth. 

Dave’s bro took you to the side in the front hall after he directed, more like demanding, Dave to find your parents and greet them.

First thing Mr. Strider said to you was,

“Dave might seem easy, and he might be.”

He points at you like he's about to threaten your life,

“but you **fuck** with him. You fuck with **me.**”

He probably just threatened you.

“I…" You stumble on getting out the words. "I’m not sleeping with him.”

He pointed his finger right in between your eyes, like a gun.

**“Do Not. Lie. To Me.” **

“He isn’t.” Dave interrupted him. “Bro, we need to talk.”

Dave didn't leave, he was listening in the entire time. Ready to defend you from his demented and deranged over protective brother.

“Oh…okay… I’ll just show myself… out.” You opened the front door and walked out…

...of your own house.

You slapped yourself in the forehead and walked around the place.

. . .

You got to the back porch and saw your step-mom talking with your dad.

“Hi baby!” Your mom waved once she noticed you.

“Hey… uh… did you tell Dave’s bro anything about Dave and me spending the day in my room or something?”

“No.” She shook her head, “you?”

“No.” Your dad answered.

You sighed, “well, he just.... _threatened me?_”

“What?” Your dad asks.

"Something about not messing around with... Dave?" You tell him. "I don't know..?"

Your mom snorts, “oh my god! Dirky thought the same thing we did!? Ha!”

You narrowed your eyes at her as she started howling. Dirk must have made up something in his head about Dave and you using a school report as a cover for something... intimate.

Suddenly the door opened. Both the Strider brothers came out the door. When Dave noticed you he looked down at the ground.

Dirk seemed like he wasn’t quite to pleased with you standing outside. He probably wants to talk with your parents, but your mom is still cracking up.

“Rox.” The older Strider brother was asking for her to simmer down.

“Okay. Okay.” She stops cackling. “Baby, can you get dinner started.”

She did already tell you that dinners gonna fall on you tonight. Still you groan and walk past the two Striders and head inside.

“Actually...” Your mom speaks up. “Dave, you help him out. He probably did all of your project, didn’t he?”

“Ugh.” You groan. “Mom. It’s okay.”

“No No. Davey help him.” She points at Dave and makes him leave with you.

. . .

You showed him to your kitchen and you are already taking out everything you need to prep from the fridge. You ask Dave if he can chop some peppers for you and remove all their seeds.

He accidentally nicked himself. He winced at the cut. You sighed as you looked at it. It was just a little cut, nothing to deep. Still he sliced himself good and it doesn’t help that he was cutting peppers. You grab some vinegar from the cabinet. You hold up the big jug and pour it over his cut to stop the burning. You put it down and tell him where some band-aids are. You have to finish cooking.

You finish up where he left off.

God. He did a shit job. It's like he doesn't know how to cook for himself at all.

You finish cutting up a large amount of veggies and onions. You drop the onions in a pan and mess around with several other things on the stove.

When Dave came back he was holding up a band-aid in his left hand. “I can’t get it on my thumb.”

“Alright," You walk up to him and take the bandage from his hand. "I’ve got it.”

You place the band-aid on his cut. You kiss it and go back to the stove, you think you hear something boiling over. Ugh. You were right. You're pretty sure you're going to be expected to clean the stove and do all the dishes too because everyone else is to busy or in your sisters' case, lazy. You keep fumbling around with the pots on the stove and checking them, you ask Dave if he can grab you some butter. You didn't get a response so you turned around and looked around the room. Figures... everyone always leaves you alone.

. . .

When dinner was almost ready you forced your sisters to set the table for you. They could at least do that. All the 'grown ups' were outside talking.

You haven't seen Dave till you helped him with his band-aid.

You keep stirring around the soup you spent an hour making. Dave just ran off before he could actually help you. You grab a spoon from the drawer to taste the soup. Dave ran off for no real reason. You sipped the soup and smacked your gums together. You thought maybe it needed something like dill... or pasley... you bring the spoon down from your lips. Maybe if Dave was here you could make him grab some... but of course even your sisters took off just like he did right after you kissed his cut. You... You tense up. You kissed Dave's cut! Just like when you were kids. Ugh. No wonder he ran. He probably thinks you're a freak.

. . .

Dinner was awkward. The table thanked you for the food but everyone was staring at Dave the entire time. You kept talking to them about how school was going and you asked your sisters questions to take some of the heat off of Dave. Of course though every time you opened your mouth you could feel Mr. Strider give you a death glare. You're pretty sure he's just going to toss a steak knife into your head before your dad even breaks out the cake he baked. You ask your mom a question, knowing full well that she will go off. She keeps the table entertained with stories of her teen years. Of course they are heavily censored. She must have had a crazy intense life with her best friend 'Dirky-Jerky.' Even hearing your mom talk about him with cute nicknames filled you with dread. The guy had it out for you. He wanted to kill you because he thought you were messing around with his little brother. Shit. you noticed that your sisters have been uncharacteristically silent. Like they both feel too awkward to joke about anything at the table. They are probably afraid of getting chewed out by him too. He hasn't said anything more then a few grunts and, "yeah, Rox" the entire time he's been sitting at the table. You just can't wait until this horrible get together is over with.

"You know, our son is working with Dave on a school project?" Oh no. Your dad just dragged you back into this.

"He is. Is he?" Dave's bro looks like he's out for blood when he tilts his head towards you.

You don't speak you just wait on Dave to say something.

"Yeah. We're..." Dave sighs. "we've been finished with it actually... we study together."

"You do. Do you?" Mr. Strider is looking right at you. He's still wearing those shades but you can feel his eyes stab into you.

"Oh!" Your mom continues. "I always catch them out here in the dining room just typing away! Dave, how are your grades? Good?" Your mom asks him.

"Huh... oh... half of them are... some are like... B's..."

You have a few B's as well right now, despite you wanting them to be higher. Still... you just want them to be high because you want that... Dave sounds like he's trying to avoid getting bombarded with insults.

"That's good, Dave." Your dad tells him. "You should be proud you've got grades that high."

"Uh... yeah... thanks..." Dave looks down at his plate. "I think... I'm starting to pull up my grades though. With John's help."

"You so sure about that?" His bro just came out and asked.

"Well," your mom jumped to defend Dave. "Our babyboy gets the top grades in all his classes, he's a great tutor-"

"Sorry Rox." Dirk actually just cut your mom off, a rare sight for the table. "I asked Dave."

She feel silent. It's probably for the best you stay silent too, just let Dave handle this.

"Listen..." Dave sighs as he picks at the food you made. "John and I only really do school work, we aren't really even... close anymore. We don't talk about class or personal stuff really, just school work." Dave sounds completely dejected.

You wonder, _'is that really how he feels or is he just saying that to get his brother off his back?'_

Dave looks over at his brother, "there really isn't that much more to it."

. . .

Dave helped you bring in all the dishes and glasses. He's cool enough to actually help you load the dishwasher while your parents drink with 'BeefDirkyJerkyguy.' Your mom's nicknames need a little work and she needs a lot less 'juice.'

Once the dishes were loaded you rested your back against the wall, with your arms crossed. Dave hasn't said anything the whole time. He's been red and he seems completely stunted in the moment. You guess after everything your mom confessed to the table the other day, Dave must be feeling embarrassed about his old crush on you.

“I liked you when we were kids too, you know?”

“Wha... what?” Dave narrows his eyes at you.

“I did..." You sigh. "I just didn’t remember any of that... I just remember feeling really happy around you so... I get it.” You give him a slight smile. “I get why you're embarrassed."

Dave looked down at the ground, like he was still trying to register what you are saying.

You continue, "I just felt really heart broken when you didn’t want to see me anymore and it... pissed me off.”

“I... i pissed you off?” Dave asks.

“Dave, if you ghosted your best friend for years how do you think they would feel?”

“I don’t think this is the same.” Dave shakes his head, still looking at the ground.

“Why not?” You tilt your head down to see if you can see his face.

“Because I had a crush on you.” Hes turning red, eyes still fixed on the floor.

“I think... I liked you too.” You admit. 

You lightly laugh at him, "that's what I just told you."

“Wha... what?” Dave sounds like he still isn't getting it.

You continue on confessing,  “you helped me with a cut once. You cried so hard because I got hurt and it made me feel _‘weird.’_ I didn’t tell anyone cause everyone laughed at you and it made you seem really like... upset all the time... But you made me feel kind of -well I thought of it as ‘funny.’”

“Re-really...?” Dave sounds a bit revealed as he looks up at you. Like he isn't alone.

“Yeah, ha." You let out a dry laugh. "I’ve never felt like that for anyone but you, you know?”

Dave fell completely silent. His brother walked through the door. He wasn’t wearing any shades. It was a rare sight. He must have been talking closely with your mom. Something he felt strongly enough about, to take them off. He looked right into your eyes and glared right at you. You could feel his anger towards you over... what? Because you’ve been spending time with Dave? You don’t care what he thinks about this. You turn back to Dave and speak,

“I think you should go, we can talk more tomorrow. Bye.”

“B-bYE.” Daves voice cracked again.

You started chuckling. And covering your mouth with your hand as you rested on the wall.

Dirk said nothing to you. He just left. His brother following behind him.


	8. Past Due

You keep typing away at your keyboard. Dave's sitting besides you as you work on your homework. You have no problem helping Dave with his once you finish writing up all of your talking points for your presentation that's due tomorrow. 

"Do you think you could help me study?" Dave asks you. "Uh... for our test in uh...? You know... in... _other class_... after this?"

"Hu... okay...? No problem, Dave."

"You listening to me?" Dave asks.

"Yeah... yeah.." Your eyes stay focused on the screen. You want to finish this now, you can talk more when it's done.

He tilted his head to get a better look at you.

You don't like how much he's getting in your person.

You push up your glasses up the bridge of your nose as you tap at your screen.

He's kind of annoying you with how distracting he is.

He's leaning in even more to get a better look at your eyes. You swear with how much he is bending his neck, his head is just going to snap off and slump to the floor like ice-cream falling off a waffle cone.

You sigh and look at him. He tilts his head back up. You look him in the eyes and slightly tilt your head and raise your brows. He's annoying you and you're going to let him know that. You turn your chair towards him and lean in slightly. You peck your lip against his. You quickly pull your head back and tilt it to the side, looking into his eyes. Trying to gage his expression... only, his expression didn't change.

You narrow your eyes and give him half of a smirk.

He's bugging you so much like this and he doesn't feel anything for you?

Whatever. You tilted your head to the side and looked off to the ground, staring at the hardwood floor. You decided to drag your eyes back up to him.

Dave's cheeks start to flush red.

Then his nose. His chin. His ears. His entire face is completely red.

He looks hot to the touch.

You keep looking into his face for... something...

You tilt your head and lean in even more and narrow your eyes together.

You push your glasses up the bridge of your nose.

Dave opens his mouth to speak.

"Ah... ha... ah... ah..." Dave keeps stuttering. "ahh... AH... ahh... ah..."

Dave gets up.

You narrow your brows. You think it's there.

"I... I... Ah... I Ah.."

Dave starts walking backwards.

"Ah... Huuuu.... I ha.... I hav...."

Dave walks backwards till he hits the wall behind him.

"ah... ahh... I..."

Dave fumbles around with your bedroom door to find the handle.

"I... Ha..."

Dave pulls open your bedroom door.

"I'm.... I have..."

Dave starts walking out.

"I have to.... go now..."

You lift up your hand and wave him off, "bye."

"byeee." Dave looks like he's drenched in sweat already, he shuts the door.

You start chuckling.

_'Hu. So he does like me.'_

* * *

The next day you woke up and outstretched your arms, you head downstairs and started busting out some lucky charms, you poured in the milk and started chowing down. Your eyes were half-lit. You were still practically asleep and it was already eleven.

You were watching some videos on your phone.

Your phone was buzzing. You looked down at it.

Dave was calling you. You picked up and put the phone up to your head.

You spoke with your mouth full, "Hey-lo?"

"Hey- It's uh... It's me. Dave."

"I know. I have you in my contacts." You yawn.

"I uh.. I was just thinking...?"

"Hu?" You are hardly awake and it really sounds that way.

"Can I come over later today?"

"Sure... yeah." You start nodding off. "What time?"

"Uh... maybe at like seven."

"Kay."

"Bye." He already hung up already.

"Byeeee." It didn't register in your mind he hung up.

* * *

_"Jooohn! Can you get that?"_ Your twin sister yells at you from across the house.

Your groan as you walk over to the front door. Takes you a while to transverse the landscape of your mom's massive fucking house.

"HE-" Dave coughs into his hand. "Hey."

Dave is holding an overly large bouquet and a heart shaped box of chocolates.

"Come in." You step backwards and invite him through the doorway.

Dave just stared at you for a few moments. You tilt your head and raise your brow.

Dave looks like he's sweating. You notice that his hands are shaking, along with the metallic red heart.

"Do you want to... date me?" You ask him.

Dave nods.

You lower your brows as you look into his eyes. You smile at him.

"Are those for me?" You are chuckling as you ask.

He nods again.

He holds out the flowers with one shaky hand, he kept the heart-shaped box close to his chest.

You take the roses into your arms and immediately sneeze. "Ah-choo!"

You sniffle and laugh. You give Dave a big grin. Snot is probably dripping out of your nose but you can't care. Dave just gave you such a nice gift.

Dave lifts up the heart shaped box. There was a slip of paper behind it. Dave clears his throat and starts reading off of it. "Jo-OHN." He coughs again.

You let out one light laugh, burying your head in the roses.

"John, since we were kids I've had feelsing- feelgin-**feelings.** for you."

You nod and pursed your lips together.

"I uh... I wanted to tell you tha-AT. I've been trying to... build up the nerve to talk to you again for years."

You nod, signaling you understand his confession, that you accept it.

"I've been too scared to talk to you sINCE." -He quickly coughed to clear his throat- "I... I pushed you away from me."

You're kind of impressed that Dave can still have feelings for someone for this long... you completely forgot how much you liked him till you started speaking with him again.

"I- uh... I always wanted to be your best friend again... but I didn't expect to see you again in school and... I didn't expect that those feelings would come back."

You smile at him as you tilt your head. He puts down the paper as he scans a bit of the line he wrote. He's speaking to you directly now,

"When I saw you on the first day I didn't even think you were the same person until roll call. Then it was like an arrow just struck my heart. I couldn't even breathe when you were around sometimes you just looked so good and I can't bring myself to even talk to you because I just turn completely mindless when you walk past me. I mean fuck- I lost count of how many lockers and doors I've walked into when you're in the same hall. You just look so fucking good. You just lift up your hand and wave 'hello' and it feels like you shot me right in my chest. Like I have to use all my will power not to just collapse."

You narrow your eyes and tilt your head back. That's why he was avoiding you...

"I can't even believe that you like me back- I've been a fucking jerk-off tool. I don't even talk to you like..."

You cut him off with a kiss.

You pull him in close with one arm. The other still holding his roses.

Dave wraps his arms around your waist, pulling your tightly into a hug.

The red heart and the flowers are crushed between your but you could care less, you just want to hold onto Dave again. You rest your head on his shoulder and he rests his on the top of your head.

You slightly pull your head away to speak.

"Dave." You kiss his lips for a brief second again. "You drive me up the wall, you know that?"

Dave starts smiling and laughing through his grin.

You match his smile and up his laugh by cackling.

The two of you stood, with Dave's arms tightly wrapped around you.

You happily simmered down from your laughter and dissolved your chortle into a giggle.

Dave was still bright red, almost like he was glowing. He was radiating with heat.

Even with how sweaty and hot he was...

Dave won't let go of you.


End file.
